Beyond Judgement
by Chaos Wrath
Summary: OneShot. She will get judged for something she never did, but can her innocense be prooved? Especially, when a friend turns out to be an enemy... KnuxRouge


Okay, I've been saying that I'll do a KnuxRouge fic, so here it is.

Another tragedy, sorry, couldn't stop myself…

Anyway, enjoy

BTW, I don't own any of SEGAs characters, but one day, damnit...

Beyond Judgement

The grand courtroom of Station Square, normally empty and quiet, but not today… Knuckels was sitting right outside in the hallway, but something was very different about him. The crimson echidna was normally calm and collected, with a seemingly endless patience, but today, all those features were nowhere to be seen. He was sitting bent forwart, so that his long, thick dreadlocks covered up his face, wich had an expression of great anxiety.

He was fiddleling with his spiked gloves, occasionally nibbling on them to ease his tension. He hated this, partly because he for once didn't have a clue on what he should or could do and partly because he had to dress up in a business suit.

He had been called to court, not as acused, but to defend the accused.

The accused was Rouge. She was being accused for High Treason, after supposedly selling classified goverment information to an unknown intelligence.

He didn't belive that, sure, she had been a thief and she had worked for Eggman at one time, but she had redeemed herself, she had saved the world with him and the rest of their friends for Chaos sake!

And of course, he couldn't get rid of the thought of her fate, should the jury find her guilty: Death sentence…

The sheer horror of the words was enough to make the mighty guardian of the Master Emerald cringe.

"Mr. Echidna? You may come in now." A well-dressed foxgirl said politely, gaining the anxious guardians attention.

"Yes, of course..." Knuckels mumbled, following the girl into the courtroom.

It was large and decorated in an old-fashioned style that gave the room a time-less feeling, like it was something eternal...

Knuckels, needless to say, didn't pay any attention to the surroundings, he just tried to think of something good to use in Rouges defence...

Suddenly, a young and quite squeky voice made itself heard:

"All rise for judge Brimmstone." An old armadillo, that looked kindda like Mighty, except that he was a paler red and had alot more wrinkels, due to age, entered the room. He had a black draping coat that covered his whole body, the same style that every judge has, but he didn't have one of those weird-looking wigs that you see in movies.

Everybody rised, as told and then quickly got seated again, then the judge began.

"Bring in the accused." The old armadillo said in a dull, almost bored tone.

Everybody turned their heads to the entrance and through the doors, a chained form of Rouge became visible. She was dressed in a monotone orange prisonsuit that was labelled with numbers near the left shoulder.

Two armed guards followed directly behind, constantly looking at Rouge, as if she would make a miracoulus escape any minute. Of course, that never happened...

As soon as Rouge had been seated and her handcuffs taken off, the judge continued:

"Rouge the Bat, before we begin, know that this court has no mercy nor symphaty for true traitors, so pick your words wisely..." The judge shot her a look, like if he was already finding her guilty.

Knuckels could barely contain his anger, how the Hell could they even think she did it, Rouge the sly vixen of the Sonic team, his batgirl... yes, his!

However, he knew that if he let his emotions take over, it would just make things worse...

"Rouge the Bat, you have been accused of high treason, how do you plead?" The judge asked dryly.

"Not guilty!" Rouge practically screamed, she had a hard time keeping her voice steady, because for once, the great jewel thief slash goverment agent was scared, more than she had ever been before.

The judge sighed audiably and started to rub his forehead, obviously realizing that she wouldn't give in so easily...

"You may begin the questioning." He said to somebody neither Rouge nor Knuckles had noticed, that is, until he stepped out...

"Shadow?" They both said in unison, neither one understanding what he was doing there. Shadow calmly walked up to his seat and turned to look at Rouge. But the look he gave her was far from friendly, it was filled with hatred and disgust, almost as if he was looking at something dirty...

"So... miss Rouge, did you give classified information to any unauthorized individuals?" Shadow had a slight sneer on his face, he almost looked amused, however, only Knuckels seemed fully aware of Shadows facial expression.

"N-no, no, of course not!" Rouge said, looking at the ebony hedgehog almost pleadingly.

"You were on Angel Island at that time, were you not?" Shadow barely let her finnish her sentence...

"Y-yes, but-"

"And you were not on duty, nor had you been assigned there, true?" Now Knuckles was loosing his already short temper...

"What the Hell is that angsty Sonic-look-alike doing? He's supposed to try and get her out, not secure her a place on death row..." The aggrevated echidna thought, while staring at the hedgehog he had thought of as a friend moments earlier...

"And were you not in contact with any individuals during that time?" Shadow continued, breaking the last nerves Rouge had left...

"I only met up with Knuckels the Echidna during that time, nobody else!" Her voice was begining to crack, showing that she was about to panic.

"And what was your business with the Guardian of the Master Emerald?" Shadows tone suddenly changed from amused to angry at the mention of Knuckles name.

"We just... talked..." Rouge was blushing slightly and so was Knuckels, he remebered what had happened:

**Flashback**

Knuckels was sitting at the shrine as usual, listening to the evening sounds: crickets, the wind blowing, the low humming sound the M.E. made...

Suddenly the noise of snapping twigs caught his attention and he jumped into fighting stance, ready to defend the M.E. with his famous spiked fists. However, just as quickly as he had raised them, he lowered his hands, realizing who the "trespasser" was...

"Sigh, hello Batgirl..." He said to the emerging form of Rouge the Bat.

"Hello to you too, Knucklehead." Rouge had a small grin on her face as she walked up to the somewhat irritated echidna.

"If you're coming for the Master Emerald, then you've come all this way for nothing!" Knuckels had a rather large smile plastered on his face as he looked at Rouges almost baffled expression. Rouge quickly regained her poise though...

"Who said I was here for that old rock?" She asked smugly, enjoying the suprised echidnas reaction.

Knuckels stood there, looking kindda dumbfounded until he managed to come up with a reply:

"What could there possibly be on this old island that the o-so-great Rouge the Bat could want, aside from the Master Emerald?" He put on a cheesy tone, looking at her angered face. One thing was at least for certain, if anybody could match Knuckels in temper, it was Rouge...

"Well, "mighty guardian", it's not a question of "what"!" The white bat turned around and stuck her chin up in a certain snobbish way, that really ticked Knuckels off, that is, until he realized what she said...

"Woah, back up... if it's not about what, then it could only be wh-" Knuckels stopped in mid-sentence, trying to puzzle everything together in his mind.

"Took you long to figure out, it's about "who"." Rouge actually giggled a little at Knuckels being slow. This was something new to the echidna, he had never heard Rouge giggle, it actually made her sound kindda cute...

However, he was quickly snapped back to her last statement.

"Who? But on this island there's only you and-" Knuckels suddenly went wide-eyed and couldn't finnish his own sentence.

Rouge, noticing his expression, started to get pretty annoyed (with Rouge, that's never a good thing)

"Jesus Christ, is it really that hard to belive that I came here to see you, or is your head even thicker than your knuckels?" The infamous treasure hunting bat was starting to let her emotions take over, something she rarely did...

"Me! Why would you want to see me, I mean you're... uh, I am..." Now, what Knuckels meant to say was "Why would you want to see me, you're smart, one hell of a fighter and... and beatiful..." But to his own misery, his thoughts never became words...

The mighty guardian had always had a soft spot for the cunning bat, at first he had denied it, then he tried to hide it, but now it was starting to show in his anxiety.

Likewise, Rouge had always found something special about the echidna, sure, he was stubborn, hot-headed and somewhat gulliable, but still, there was that little something that made him stick in her memories like glue. However, she was and always had been under the impression that he hated her because she had been after his precious emerald a few times... Okay, more than a few times...

This showed through in her sudden lack of emotional control, she actually burst out sobbing.

Knuckels was unsure what he should do, but he felt like he had to do something. His secret crush was on her knees, spilling tears right infront of him.

"Rouge... hey, don't cry..." he crouched in front of her and lifted her chin up with his thumb so that he could see her tear-glistened eyes.

Then Rouge did something that suprised both herself and Knuckels, she vaulted her face forward and pressed her lips hard against his. Knuckels was to the last shocked and this caused him to loose balance and fall backwards and in the process brake their physical connection. Rouge, however, thought he backed away and was suddenly filled with guilt...

"Kn-knuckels, I... I'm sorry, I shouldn't...-" She didn't finnish, instead she turned around and ran, away from the one she loved, feeling her heart ache for each step away from him."

It took the crimson echidna a few seconds to get out of the blissful trance the kiss had given him and react to what had happened and he scrambled to his feet as quickly as he could and started to run in the same direction she had. But, there was no bat to be found...

Rouge, on the other hand had hidden up in a tree and was letting the last painfilled tears stream down her cheeks. Allthough she had enjoyed the kiss, she now felt guilty, like if she had stolen his first kiss...

**End Flashback**

"Just talked?" Shadow raised an eyebrow in annoyance, shooting an evil glare to Rouge at the same time.

"Y-yes..." Shadows glare destroyed the last piece of Rouges self-confidense and her desperation was becoming visiable.

"My source says that you met up with someone beside the guardian before leaving the island..."

"W-what!"

"Bring forth the witness!" The judge called out to a couple of a guards, who went into another room.

Knuckles, meanwhile, was in deep thought. "Who the Hell could've been at my island without me noticing?"

"Your honour, I present the witness..." When everyone saw who Shadow was speaking of, both Knuckels and Rouge looked completely shocked...

"... Fang the Sniper." The purple weasel walked past the judge and took his seat.

"So, mr. Sniper... tell us what you saw..." Again Knuckels could've sworn that the ebony hedgehog looked amused.

"I was takin' a little walk on the great guardians island and I see the two of them bickering about somethin', then the bat walked off into the woods, where this cloaked figure was waitin', see? Then she handed some papers to him and he handed her a bunch of money, I tell ya, must've been more than 500 grand."

"And after that?" The judge asked with the same dry voice.

"I thought it would be best if I took my leave, so I went back to Station Square to report it."

"Very good, now for the next and last witness, Knuckels the Echidna." Knuckels headed for Fangs seat and shot him a murderous glare as he went past.

"So, mr. Echidna, you have chosen to speak in ms. Bats defence... you may proceed..."

"Your honour, I can tell you and the rest of this court, that Rouge the Bat is innocent!" Knuckels statement caused a few of the jury members to gasp and others started mumbling something he couldn't hear...

"And you have proof of this?" The judge was actually starting to sound mildly interested. Knuckels, meanwhile, was losing his temper, or what was left of it...

"I've lived on that island all my life, I can tell if there are any intruders on it! Which also means that Fang couldn't have been on my island without me noticing!" Knuckels had jumped out of his seat and was staring evilly at the old armadillo.

"Mr. Echidna, you will be seated or you will have to leave this courtroom!" The judge was getting severly pissed off at Knuckles attitude.

"Not until you stop all these lies about Rouge!" Knuckels couldn't help it, he lost all self-control.

"Guards! Take him out!" Three armed guards grabbed Knuckels and started forcing him out of the courtroom.

Meanwhile, the enraged judge continued. "Rouge the Bat, due to evidence and witnesses, this court finds you guilty as charged and hereby sentence you to execution!" As the hammer hit the table, all color drained from Rouges face and she became paler than her own fur.

"NO!" Knuckels started going beserk and punched one of the guards square in his face, sending the poor hedgehog flying through the room, however, the next thing Knuckels knew was darkness... Another guard had grabbed his pistol and whacked the red echidna in the back of his head, rendering him unconsious.

Just before the prison guards were about to take Rouge away, Shadow slipped by her and whispered in her ear:

"What I can't have, no-one can..." Then he simply walked out the doors.

**A few days later**

"Death Row"

The words themselves both disgusted and scared her, even more so, now that she was locked within it... Rouge sighed and looked down at the grey concrete floor, everything there seemed cold, dark... dead.

Her thoughts about her new surroundings were interrupted by a guard who knocked on her bars.

"Rouge the Bat, you've got visitors." He went inside and handcuffed her and started leading her to the "visiting-room"

It was basically a big room divided in two by a thick wall of plexiglass, with telephones on the side so you could talk to the ones on the outside...

She got seated at the boot the guard had pointed at, silently wishing that it would be a certain red echidna... However, she was, yet again, surprised...

"Amy? Sonic? Wha... what are you doing here?" They were among the last she would have guessed for...

"Well, that's a fine hello..." Sonic said with a smirk, earning himself an elbow in his side by Amy.

"How are you doing, Rouge?" Allthough Amy tried to sound like her usual cheery self, the tone of worry was easily detected...

Rouge sighed audiably. "As good as someone on Death Row can..."

Amy, realizing her mistake, quickly started to apolagize. "Rouge, I'm sorry. That was stupid of me, I shouldn't have-"

"It's okay, really..."

There was a long uncomfortable silence until Sonic broke it.

"We went to the court with your case again, we're still trying to get you out on "lack of proper evidence"... And beat up Shadow while we're at it..." Sonic snarled as he mentioned Shadows name, gritting his teeth.

"I still can't belive Shadow would do something like that..." Amy was looking at her feet with a sad expression.

No, she couldn't understand, but Rouge could, she remembered...

**Somewhat short Flashback**

"Hey Rouge!" Shadow greeted as he closed up to her outside her appartment.

"Hey Shadow, how ya been?" She smiled when she saw him, she had considered him one of her best friends for a pretty long time now...

"Eh, pretty good, how 'bout you?"

"Still holding strong." She chuckeled a little and opened the door to her appartment. "Wanna come in?"

"Sure..." The ebony hedgehog followed pursuit and closed the door behind them.

When they entered Rouges rather luxury appartment Shadow went a little closer to Rouge, this however, did not go unnoticed...

"Shadow, what are you- mmphh" Shadow had put his hand behind her head and had pulled her in for a storming kiss. But to Rouge it wasn't that enjoyable, it wasn't soft or caring, it was aggressive, dominant...

When she broke the kiss she noted that her lip was slightly swollen and bleeding a little.

"I'm not satisfied with this friendship anymore, I wan't more, I want all of it, all of you..." Shadow made a low grunting noise, indicating that he was actually turned on by his little dominance act... Rouge on the other hand, was getting more and more scared and it only became worse when Shadows hands started to roam more freely, feeling her curves, her skin through the fabric of her jumpsuit.

SMACK!

Shadow stumbled backwards with a fresh slapmark on his cheek.

Rouge stood there shaking a little, still scared and confused. Shadows eyes changed from having a tint of lust to burning with rage and he snarled at her.

"Oh, I see now... Don't think I'll let you go that easy, oh no! You see, what I can't have, no-one can... you'll see... Chaos Control!" And suddenly he was gone... As was their friendship...

**End Flashback... again**

Rouge just sat there, lost in her thoughts until Amy called for her.

"Rouge, are you listening?" Amy looked at the bat a little worried.

"Sorry, I was thinking..."

"Anyway, I'm really sorry, but time's almost up, we gotta leave soon... Is there anybody you want us take here to talk to you next time?" Rouges mind suddenly clicked on it's own and the answer came before she had a chance to think about it...

"Knuckels, get Knuckles!" She looked at the pink hedgehog pleadingly, she really needed to talk to him...

"Er... I would if I could..." Amy looked away ashamed.

"What do you mean?"

"She means that Red has been trying to get in here ever since they brought you here, but thanks to that mossy old judge, they won't let him in..." Sonic looked slightly annoyed upon mentioning the judge.

"Okay, time's up!" Rouge was yet again led to her cell and the minute the guard was out of sight she laid down on her bed staring at the ceiling, thinking.

The following days passed by as if somebody was fastforwarding an old VHS, Sonic, Amy and the others failed on getting Rouge out and nobody seemed to be able to find Knuckles either...

Now it was the day, the final day...

She couldn't think clearly as they walked towards the execution room, she was completly emotionless, even as they strapped her up in the electric chair... She just had one thing in her head, that she kept repeating to herself. "I never told him, I never told him..."

"Roll on one!" Suddenly all the generators were cranked up to max and ready to be used. The guard infront of her started speaking, but she didn't listen, until the last part...

"Do you have any last words?"

"Knuckles..." She whispered to herself, feeling tears stinging in her eyes...

"May God have mercy on your soul. Roll on- H-hey, what the..." Suddenly everything went black, all the generators died out at once and the guards were desperatly trying to fix it.

"Damnit, we've lost all power! Someone must've cut the main cords..."

"Well, get the backups working then!"

"The backup generators aren't working either..."

THUD!

"What was that?"

"Sounds like someone's trying to brake down the-" In the same instant the heavy steel door was smashed in and landed on one of the guards. A blurry figure ran through the darkness, straight for Rouge and yanked her out of the electrical chair with ease. Rouge was too confused to understand what was happening, she only knew that she was being cradled like a baby in the arms of whoever broke her out. She turned to look and was, least to say, shocked...

The red fur, muscular chest with a white ring on it and the thick dreadlocks made no doubt that the valiant rescuer was none other than the guardian of the master emerald, himself.

Knuckels kicked down another door that lead to the freedom of outside and about fivehundred yards away was a forrest perfect for hiding in. He gently put down Rouge before grabbing her hand, urging her to run...

Knuckles could hear the guards behind them...

"Shoot to kill, but don't hit the echidna!"

BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!

Four bullets left for their target at the same time, whizzing through the air. To Knuckles, everything suddenly went in slow-motion, he grabbed Rouge and threw her to the side, then spinned around to face the guards.

Rouge rubbed her sore head and looked up at Knuckles, wondering why he stopped, she looked at the guards, no, they were still there, but they seemed to be in shock for some reason...

She got up and started going towards Knuckles, when he suddenly fell on his knees and then over on his side.

"Knuckles?" She asked softly turning him over, what she saw next was pure horror...

Four nasty bullet wounds were imbedded into his chest, one of them directly were his heart should be. He tried to say something, but it only resulted in him coughing up blood all over his muzzle. This time, Rouges reaction was a little more suitable...

"KNUCKLES!" She screamed and desperatly tried to stop the bloodflow with her hands, but to no use...

"Please no... Oh, God, no..." Fresh tears were streaming down her face, as she continued her futile attempts.

"...R-rouge..." One of the bullets probably hit his lungs, since he couldn't breath properly, it was ragged and irregular...

"Ssshhh, don't talk. I'lll get help, I'll-" Rouge was panicing, not knowing what to do...

"... Run, get away... from here..."

"NO! I won't leave you!"

"...Rouge... Forgive me..." Those two last words spoke volumes for her, he might as well have said: "I'm not gonna make it", the way he said it, it was just... grimm.

"No, don't you dare die on me! I love you damnit, I won't let you die!"

"... Heh..." Knuckles put his hand behind her head and pulled her down for a kiss, but not like Shadow, no, this was a sweet tender kiss, a last kiss...

When he let go, he closed his eyes for the last time, leaving behind a sobbing, mourning bat, who he gave his life for...

As Rouge let all her feelings out, while she was sobbing into his bloodstained chest, the guards advanced on her..

But just as one of the two guards was going to grab her, she grabbed his arm and twisted it until she heard a loud, sickening crack. The guard hollered in pain, but then she performed a roundhouse kick, that snapped his neck straight off and then he knew no more pain... The other one was still somewhat shocked, but he never got the chance to do anything, for Rouge had grabbed his colleges gun and fired a bullet that hit him point blank between the eyes. Death was a fact...

She kneeled down next to the echidnas body and put the gun to her right temple...

"I told you I wouldn't leave you..." She whispered silently.

BANG!

There was only white, no other colors, no sounds or smells... except two voices.

"Hello Batgirl."

"Hello to you too, Knucklehead."

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Well, another tragedy finished...

Holy shit, I've got a lot of Shadow fangirls that's gonna wanna kill me, I made Shadow so damn evil!

I think the story's pretty good, so review, if nothing else, then to prove me wrong...

You flame me, I ignore you


End file.
